ETEN P300

Eten is not well known in the UK, but accessories specialist, Peripheral Corner, is selling the handset through its company website. Because of this, the P300 comes SIM-free. Despite this, at £351 (inc. VAT) it remains one of the cheapest SIM-free handsets currently available. When the Eten P300 arrived we were expecting to find a budget smartphone with the bare minimum of specifications and a chassis without any frills. However, on taking it from its box, we found a small, svelte handset with an appealing silver and black design.

The P300 runs on Pocket PC 2003 Phone Edition, and is one of the smallest handsets available running this OS. In order to get its 67 x 117 x 23mm dimensions, Eten has compromised on the screen size, and the 2.8-inch screen is more akin to the Sony Ericsson P900 than the O2 xda II – the only other smartphone in this group that shares its OS. The aerial that protrudes from the top of the unit, is reminiscent of the original O2 xda, and like the xda it houses the stylus. Four silver shortcut keys along the bottom of the unit aref unctional, while the small joystick is looser than we would have liked – although it does a reasonably good job. A small hole next to the handset’s ear piece could easily go unnoticed, but it’s a built-in digital camera that’s capable of taking photos at a resolution of 640 x 480 pixels.

The camera was slow to respond, and the resulting pictures were the worst in the group. Because it’s on the front of the phone, it’s almost impossible to take a photo of anything other than yourself. However, its saving grace is the inclusion of some fun software, most notably Image Maker, which allows you to add frames around pictures and alter images. Although the 240 x 320-pixel screen is about what you’d expect from a PDA of this screen

size, with only 4,096 colours (12-bit colour) as opposed to 65,536 colours (16-bit), images were dull and washed out. Changing the contrast levels helped, but didn’t solve the problem altogether. Unfortunately, having a less bright screen didn’t result in a longer battery life and we only managed to get up to two hours of power with the handset in constant use. Charging the unit can only be done via the docking cradle, but a separate cable can be bought as an optional extra.

Included in the price is a carry case and handsfree headset. The P300 is powered by a 200MHz ARM 9processor with 64MB of RAM, 53MB of which is available to the user. An SD card slot is located on the underside of the unit next to the docking port and we found it fiddly to get cards in and out. The actual performance speeds of theP300 are more sluggish than the more powerful handsets in the group, but we found them acceptable for a unit with these specifications.

The overall build quality of the handset is good, and we would have no concerns about carrying it unprotected in a bag. Despite its many minor flaws there’s something inherently likeable about the P300. Eten’s take on a hybridised device is an appealing one, with a good compromise between PDA and mobile phone functionality. We would have preferred to see a better screen and an improved battery life, but as an entry level smartphone, this is a good option. Some users may baulk at the price when the original O2 xda can be had at an almost identical (SIM-free) price. However, if Eten can come up with an upgraded version of theP300, we believe it could hold its own against many of the more established smartphones on the market.

RATING: 7

PRICE: £299/£351 (EX/INC. VAT)
PROCESSOR: 200MHZ ARM 9
MEMORY: 64MB
EXPANSION: SD
SCREEN: 12-BIT TFT
SIZE: 67 X 117 X 23MM
WEIGHT: 165G
OPERATING SYSTEM: WINDOWS MOBILE 2003 FOR POCKET PC PHONE EDITION
CONTACT: 01252 792862 WWW.PERIPHERALCORNER.CO.UK